Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-06-08

a Little Confdencs Man Explains the
I~nwardness Of His Game.
A dapper little man stood on the corner
Of Houston street and the Bowery the
other night. He wore an Immaculate
white shirt front, from which sparkled
Q six karat brilliant Of the purest water.
A heavy gold watch chain hung from his
waistco lon which was suspended q
large goldhorseshoe with seven diamonds,
representing nail heads. A large ring
encircled the little finger Of his left hand,
with an eight karat stone imbedded in IL,
which shot out little prismatic sparks
with q snap at every move Of his hand.
This little man was none other than
Barney Mcguire, the king Of sawdust
swindiers. He appeared 10 be more COM
municarive than usual, and did not hest
tate to unbosom himself to a frieSd
.'Ten years ago." he said, ~ was
working at my trade as q journeyman
~bricklayer, earning q salary Of So a day.
I don't Just now recall what first led me
into the doodle business. but I started as
you know. Other people know it, too,
and much to their sorrow.
The little confidence man gave q quiet
chuckle and continued: sand l have
been 80 successful at the sawdust game
that 800, 900 in cold cash would not
touch me to-day. The game has grown
30 threadbare, and has been exposed 80
often, however, that l am kept continu-
ally studying up some new scheme to
rope in the guys. II isn't anything like
il used to be, I can tell you. Why, l. can
recopect five years ago, when I thought
nothing of raking in IS, 900 q week, and
on several occasions l took in $4,000 in
n week. Those were good times.
Nowadays il I make $500 or $1,000 l
think I'm playing in good luck. My ex-
penses are frightfully heavy, too. I've
always got fifteen or twenty stsereB that
must be paid t15 or $40 a man, sccord-
ing TO the Doodle that he drops. Then
there's my turner, who has charge Of the
layout. He must be paid well, for a
good turner is not picked up every day,
and then, besides, l have agents all over
the country looking up good subjects to
work on.
when q man is found whom it is
suspected will take the bait, one Of my
circulars is sent him. There's nothing in
it that could criminate me even IL it got
into wrong hands. l don't tell him that
I'm selling counterfeit money, but simply
allude to il as manufactured green stuff
in the denominations Of Is, pa, IS, los
and 2Os. He generally knows what il
means. II he writes back for a sample,
and l think he means business, ! cut, for
instance, a brand new, good $5 bill in
two and send one-half of it to him. This
generally brings him. 1t has been pre-
viously understood between us that upon
his arrival in this city he is to telegraph
me at what hotel he is stopping and under
what name. Then one OF my steerer'
calls at the hotel and steers him to the
layout, which is situated either up stair
or down in a basement with a dark pas
sage way. You will understand the
eason for this presently.
when he gets into the layout its very
rare thing that he leaves it with more
than Just money enough money to take
him out of town. When he enters the
layout which has been fixed for his re.
ception new green crisp greenbacks greet
his eyes on all sides. The shelves are ap.
parently full Of them, and he imagines
that barrels are filled with the notes. The
packages = the shelves, however, simply
have a bank note on the top and bottom,
The rest is paper cut the right size. The
barrels have false tops. The greenbacki
have just been brought from the sub
treasury on Wall street in exchange fol
old bills. He first advances to the coun
ter, takes up q bill, and in nine cases on
Of ten takes one from his pocket and com
pares the two. He couldn't be othe
than satisfied. Then he signifies how
much he wants. He is told that he cal
have $4,000 for $500. The money |
counted out by the turner, and eithe
done up in a package or placed in
valise. II the guy has on a good ston,
or a watch and chain, some fabulous sun
is offered for it and placed in with tn,
other money.
"When the package has been securely
sealed something must be done to distract
his attention from it. It requires only q
second. As a rule, enc of my men from
behind him makes some startling re
mark, and he turns his head, The sec
ond his head goes around q package i
substituted in place Of the one the money
is In. He is allowed to carry his owl
package in this case. But he Is told that
in order to insure us against any treachery
on his part, he must take the package t
the express Office and send 1t to his home
He must then allow one Of my men h
accompany him TO the train, and see tn,
train start off with him in it. Then W,
are safe.
"When he arrives home he calls for hi
package and very likely locks himself il
his room and stuffs the keyhole full O
paper before he opens IL. When he doe
open II he finds a package Of sawdust O
paper, with generally an accompanying
note which informs him hat the package
has been substituted on the road.
"I've had the sane man come bacl
three times for more thinking that il wa
stolen on the road. II he does find on
that we have duped him he can't squeal
for he is as deep in the mire as we are.
'If a guys attention in the substitut
ing act cannot be withdrawn from tn,
package, one Of my men takes it, and il
company with the fiat starts for the ex
press office. Going through the dark pas
sage way on down stairs they meet a man
In passing each other the packages are ex
changed. It's regular sleight OF han
work. But say, I'm talking too long"
The king Of sawdust swindlers locke